Like a Thief in the Night
by StormyCloudyRainy
Summary: Follows the happenings of 'Our Ace in the Hole' Things are finally going right for Keira. She's back home with her friends and family, she's dating the man of her dreams, everything seems to be going her way...that is still a mysterious strangers waltzes into her life like...well you read the title.


**This is a short story a wrote a while back and forgot to put up...oops, it sort of follows the happening of 'Our Ace in the Hole', and will be of inportance for the sequel i will be writeing, (I will get it done I swear) Anyway for those of you who read 'Our Ace in the Hole' this will make more sense, if you didn't, well maybe you can still enjoy some JakXKeiraness. I hope you like it!**

"Tess can you hand me that screw driver?" Keira asked the young female ottsel.

"Sure thing Keir!" Tess called back. She pattered over the table and grabbed the tool throwing it to the she-elf working on a project. "How are things going with you and Jak?" she asked making conversation as she went back to her work on a new gun mod.

"Great!" Keira said bent over a motor she was fixing. "He took me out into the forest last night. We watched the stars."

"Your so cute when your love sick." Tess teased.

"Hey at least I don't give him nick names, like Jaky-poo."

"What's wrong with nicknames?" Tess asked putting her little hands on her little hips.

"Only that there sickening to anyone else present."

"Are not! Besides, give it time, you'll have your own nicknames. If not now, then someday."

"Sure Tess." Keira laughed. She went back to her work fixing up a cruisers motor. It wasn't a big problem, easily fixed, which was a little more money in her pocket. Truthfully though her mind had not been on her work. Now that she and Jak were actually 'a thing', she hadn't been thinking of much else. She looked down at the small simple necklace that hung around her neck. The memory of how she had received it brought came back such a warmth that she felt sure she would never need a blanket again...

_Keria sat under the blanket of stars very aware of the arm that was draped casually over her shoulder. It was a welcome comfort on a slightly chilly night...that and she she had loved the person attached to send arm since she could remember. How long had she been primping before he picked her up at the garage? _

_You would think she wouldn't be nervous about something like this. She had known Jak for years, yet now that they were 'seeing each other' as it were, she felt like a little girl with her first crush...and well...she was. _

_So there they sat, both with there necks craned up to the heavens watching the stars sparkle in the night sky. Keira pulled her legs close to her chest and sighed. _

"_Its beautiful isn't it?"_

"_Yeah." Jak said still looking up. Keira smiled, Jak had never been big on words, hell for most of his life he had been mute. But she liked he simple and blunt way of speaking. She knew that what he said he meant, he wouldn't waist time on pointless talk. Not like some men that could spin her head with there flattery and casual lies. Her mind flashed back to a grinning figure with a yellow jumpsuit poised on his zoomer, his red hair falling into his face. But mostly it was that grin...that sick grin. Errol, that old commander of the Krimzon guard. When she had been alone in Haven he had showed up. A suave 'kind' man who lavished her with flattery. Looking back she felt sick at all the lies of his she had believed, and that for a moment she had believed him instead of..._

_No that was over know, he was gone and she had her head on straight now. Errol's lies were gone, the only thing left was Jaks honest plain words. Just Jak. _

"_Hey Keira." Jak's harsh voice cut into her thoughts. _

"_Huh? Oh, yeah Jak?"_

_Maybe it was the darkness but Keira thought just for a moment Jak blushed. He scratched the back of his neck with his free hand in a way Keira found unbelievably adorable. "Uh, here." he said pulling something out from one of his pockets. He placed it into to Keira's hand and continued to star out into space. _

"_I saw it today and...well, yeah I thought you'd like it."_

_Keira looked down into her palm and a small gasp caught in her throat. It was a little gold necklace and hanging on the end was a tiny Precursor orb. A flood of memories came back to the days at Sandover village when Jak and Daxter went on their first adventure. How many of these things had she asked them to get for her to fix up her old machines? She fingered the little gold pendant reverently. _

"_Jak, its beautiful." she said putting it on. _

"_Yeah, I guess so." he said looking down at the ground. Keira flung her arms around his middle her cheek pressed against his chest. _

"_Thank you, your the best."_

_He didn't say anything, but after a moment put his arm around her waist. At first she thought he might change his mind and pull it away with how delicately he seemed to hold her like that, but he left his arm there and she was happier for it. They sat like that more a while longer still looking up at the stars. After a time Jak yawned and stretched. _

"_We should head back, your dad will kill me if we're not back soon."_

"_Oh okay" she said about to get up when Jak took her hand, pulling her to her feet. When she got up however she didn't let go of his hand. _

"_Lead the way."_

Keira's mind came back the present moment. She sighed, if only times like those could last forever.

"Well I'm going to head out for the night." Tess said hopping from the table to a stool then to the floor. "I'll see you tomorrow Keir!"

"Sure thing Tess." Keira said still fidgeting with her necklace. Tess walked over to the door and looked outside. A cold blast of wind and rain swept into the shop sending chills through Keira's body.

"Yikes! Its a mess out there!" Tess said shutting the door. "good thing I brought a jacket. You going to be able to get home okay?"

"Yeah I'll just be a little bit longer."

"Okay, well goodnight Keira!"

"Good night Tess." Keira called back as the little ottsel scampered out into the storm.

Keira sighed whipping her greasy hands on a dirty rag. She knew she must look like a love sick schoolgirl, but the more she thought about it the more she found she didn't care. Things were finally going right in her life. Jak wasn't out risking his life to save the world, she wasn't being forced to work on a dark echo weapon of destruction by a psychopath, and she had been able to come clean about her feeling for Jak, and he even cared for her too. All in all things were finally...

BOOM!

Keiras head whipped around to the sound of the thunder outside. The rain storm had picked up and the rain was falling in sheets.

"Dang, that's going to be fun to walk in. I hope Tess got home okay" she thought to herself as she began putting her tools away for the night.

BOOM!

Another bolt of lightning lit up the room making all the shadows dance. One of the shadows in particular stood out to her. Framed in the doorway was the figure of a man.

Instantly she pulled out a small hand gun that Torn had given her after she had been kidnapped by that creep Shift and his men. She was no marksmen by any stretch of the imagination, but Jak and Ashelin had thought her more than enough to defend herself.

"Who are you!?" she yelled at the figure in the doorway. The figure took one step toward her, gasped something before falling to the ground.

"Oh crap!" Keira exclaimed running over to the fallen body. "Are you alright?" she asked kneeling down next to the moaning man.

"Yeah...fine." gasped the stranger. Keira noticed her was clutching his side...and that there was blood seeping out from between his fingers.

"Precursors! What happened?"

"Take a look." he said jerking his head back outside. Keira looked out to were he had indicated with his head. Outside was a battered and banged up zoomer, smoke billowing out of the engine and who knew where else. Clearly there had been a terrible accident.

"Hold on, don't move."

"Yeah don't worry about that." the man said half grinning, half grimacing. Keira ran over to a shelf on the wall and grabbed a red box. Inside was her first aid supplies. She ran back over to the man still lying on the ground.

"Can you move at all? I need to prop you up against the wall."

"Sure." he grunted trying to lift himself. Keira helped pull him over to the wall then began rummaging through her kit. She found a roll of bandage and some green echo patches. First she began putting the patches near as she could to the wound, then she pulled out the bandage.

"You'll need to move your hand so I can wrap this."

"Its okay, I got it."

"But-" before she could protest more he grabbed the bandage and began wrapping it around himself. She was shocked that he could manage this on his own, but sure enough in a moment he had dressed the wound. He sat back against the wall and sighed.

"Thank you, I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't been here." he said looking at her his eyes full of gratitude.

"No don't thank me, I only did what anybody would do."

"Ha! Sweetheart not many people would have the balls to do what you just did. You saw a man bleeding out and didn't even panic. You must be use to intense situations."

"Uh, I guess so." You have no idea. She thought. "can I get you anything? Something to drink?"

"Sounds great." he said his head resting back against the wall. Keira got up and went to get him some water. Now that the adrenalin was wearing off her had a chance to look back at him and really take him in. He was tall with green hair that got darker as is came down to a little above the shoulders. He was tanned, as though he was out in the sun often. His cloths were mostly black except for a bright red shirt that showed of his toned midriff. A black leather sleeveless jacket accented his muscular arms. He was a good looking individual. Almost as hansom as Jak. Almost, but not quite.

She came back with a bottle of water in hand. She handed it over to him and he drank greedily. He sighed some of the water dripping from his lips.

"Thanks," he whipped the water away with his hand but winced with the action. He looked back at her. "I never did get the name of my savior."

"Keira." she said. "I'm the mechanic here."

"No kidding?" he said his eyes growing wide. "Not your normal woman's job."

"Yeah well ask any of my friends and they'll tell you, I'm not most woman." she said smiling.

"I'll say." he said, and she couldn't tell but for a moment it looked like his eyes scanned her. "so your a mechanic? You just fix cars and zoomers? Or is there even more to ya?"

"Mostly just zoomers and the like." she said shrugging.

"Mostly?"

"Well every now and then I work on a special project. Sometimes I dabble in precursor technology, try to figure out how it works. I like the challenge."

"I see." he said sitting back.

"I never got your name." Keira said.

"Oh, yeah I guess you didn't. Its Surge." he said extending his hand. "I nice to meet ya"

"Nice to meet you to-ah!" Keira gasped as he pulled her toward him. Before she had time to think she was cuffed to water pip on the wall and Surge was getting to his feet brushing himself off.

"Sorry 'bout that. No hard feelings kid but you really did walk right into that one. I have to say I was a little worried when I saw the gun but then nobody ever sees 'the bleeding man' routine coming."

"What the hell!" Keira said getting to her feet pulling against the cuff trying to free herself. "What are you doing?"

"Oh didn't you know? Your being robbed."

"WHAT!?"

"Now where did you say you keep that precursor tech? You know that's going for big on the black market. In here maybe?"

"But- you-i mean-you were bleeding!?"

"Not exactly," he said looking around the room. "Blood pack sweetheart, a squirt here and there and suddenly I'm a dead man walking."

"What about the zoomer?"

"Yeah I almost feel about about that, some guys insurance is going to go through the roof. Eh." he said shrugging and continued to search the room. "Now lets see, if I was a young hot chick were would I put my tech. In here perhaps were her eyes darted when I mentioned that I was robbing her? Bingo." he said walking over to a large locker. He looked over the lock for a moment before pulling a tool from his belt. "Just a turn here and a jerk there and walla!" the door flung open and there was Keira's ancient Precursor artifacts. "Sorry about this babe I really am."

"Don't you dare touch that!" she said tugging at her bonds.

"Care to stop me?" he said turning to her his arms held up. "I'll even let you take a shot at me, oh wait for that you need a gun." he pulled her hand gun from what looked like thin air. "lifted it form your belt when I locked you to the poll. I love woman who carry guns they always carry them in the best places." he wagged his eye brows at her.

"Bastard!" Keira yelled.

"Ouch, that was hardly called for. After all I didn't even do anything to ya, well at least not yet."

Fear swept through her whole body. No, not this. Surge laughed at her.

"Relax I don't roll that way. But your missing out kid, I'm told I'm great lov-"

"Look creep, you got what you want. So unless you plan on sticking around just to chat I suggest you leave before I get free and kick your ass."

"Hey as much as I would love that," he said winking, "your right I do need to going, but there one more thing I'd like to take a look at." he said walking over to her. He put his hand on her neck and let his hand slip down her collarbone.

"You little-"

"Ah and whats this?" he said fingering her necklace. Keira's heart dropped to her toes.

"Its nothing."

"Oh I think its something. Is this real gold?"

"Look you can take anything else you want, but please don't take that." she said. She didn't mean to sound so desperate but she couldn't help it. She loved that necklace. To see it in the hands of this thief. She felt sick.

"Could it be that this is a special trinket? Perhaps from a family member? A friend? A lover? Ah we have a winner!" he laughed as she blushed. "What a shame. The hot ones are _always_ taken." he said mimicking a teenage girl. He dropped the necklace letting it fall back around her neck. "Don't worry, I'm a sucker for romance, I couldn't take it from ya. How ever there is one more thing I'd like to steal." He leaned in close his nose inches form hers. "One little kiss for the road." Keira closed her eyes about to scream.

It was at that moment a body came slamming into the thief. Keira opened her eyes and her heart leaped in her chest. Jak stood panting, dark echo crackling around him, his pitch black eyes fixed on Surge. The thief got to his feet much faster than Keira would have given most people credit for.

"Well damn I take it this is your man eh?"

Jak snarled and lunged. Surge dodged at the last possible moment sending Jak crashing into a parked zoomer.

"Jak!" Keira called.

"And that's my cue to go." Surge said. "See ya latter Keira. I'm sure we'll see more of each other. Aruvoa!" just as Jak was getting to his feet Surge leaped from the zoomer and out the window with a crash. Jak was about to follow suit when he stopped. Those black eyes looked back over at Keira, genuine worry in them. The dark echo faded and in a moment Jak was standing next her trying to brake the cuff.

"Are you hurt?"

"No I'm fine."

"Are you sure." he said his eyes staring into hers with a fiery intensity, his hands gripping her shoulders as though is he let go she would disappear.

"Yes, yes Jak I'm fine." Jak stared a moment longer before nodding and breaking the cuff in two.

"What happened?"

"He tricked me. I thought he was hurt, and then the next thing I know I'm being robbed." she looked back up sheepishly at Jak. "Why do these things keep happening to me huh?"

"I don't know." Jak said. "But think I need to stay closer to you for a while...a long while."

Keira smiled in spite of everything that had happened. That was Jak. Blunt, honest and always there for her, and even with everything that had happened in those few hours as long as the echo warrior was standing next to her she found she didn't feel any fear.

"Come on." he said. "I'll take you home."

"Yeah, I'd like that," she said walking close to him. They made there way through the mess to the door the rain still coming down.

"Jak?"

"Yeah?"

"Could you...could you put your around around me? It-it makes me feel safe." he looked down at her a surprised look on his face which soon melted into a small sheepish smile.

"Ah, yeah...sure."

They came outside and Keira noticed there was no zoomer or car nearby.

"Jake how did you get here?"

"When your father called me and told me you weren't home yet I ran here."

"You RAN? All the way here? From where?"

"The Naughty Ottsel."

"Jak!"

"What?" he asked.

"I...heh" she sighed shacking her head. "You amaze me."

"I could say the same to you." She blushed a deep red.

"So, we're walking?"

"Um...I guess so." Jak said looking sorry. Keira stepped closer to him putting her arm around his waist.

"Well then, lead the way."

~The End~

**And there you have it! i hoped you like it, or at least had a little fun :) If you want to see a picture of Surge you can go to my deviant art page for his and other characters of mine. Thanks again for you time! Gad bless ya'll!**


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